The Balalaika
by the Anastasia Collection
Summary: [ANASTASIA] By Ashley. During "Learn to do it". While waiting for the boat to board, Anya & Dimitri have a look around town. ©98. Plz read&review, thx!


**"The Balalaika" **   
by Ashley 

Summary: [ANASTASIA] During "Learn to do it". While waiting for the boat to board, Anya & Dimitri have a look around town. ©98. Plz read&review, thx!   
~*~ 

"Dimitri, look! A balalaika!," exclaimed Anya. She pointed at a music shop window. Anya, Vlad, Dimitri and Pooka had taken a bus to the port town of Greifswald, Germany to board a boat the France. The boat would leave in a couple of hours. Vlad and Pooka were at the dock. Anya had wanted to look around and Dimitri had gone with her. 

Dimitri looked in the shop window. He didn't especially like the instrument. In his opinion, it was ugly. It had a triangular body, with a flat back and a slightly arched belly, a long fretted neck and three rib-fastened gut strings. But, the main reason Dimitri didn't like it, was that every time he had heard it played in the palace, to him it sounded like a live cow's hide being tanned. 

"What about it?" he asked. What in the world does Anya see in that thing?, he wondered. 

"I want to go inside and try it out!" Anya replied. She grabbed Dimitri by the wrist and pulled him inside the shop. 

Anya went up to the clerk and asked (in German) if they could look at the balalaika. The clerk nodded and got it out of the window display. He handed it to Anya. She sat on a stool and Dimitri sat on another beside her. 

"You know how to play it?" asked Dimitri. 

"No," Anya replied, "But I've always wanted to." She started playing it. Contrary to what she said, her playing sounded like she had before, but had gotten rusty. 

Dimitri was impressed. Her playing sounded great. But how could an orphan know how to play? It was like the thing with her speaking German. "Play some more!" Dimitri encouraged when she had stopped. Anya continued. "You know," Dimitri continued, "I never liked that music before. But I Iike it now." 

Anya blushed. 

Dimitri suddenly remembered something from his days as a kitchen boy. He thought back... He was nine and had been carrying an empty tray back to the kitchen, when he passed the Grand Duchesses' school room. He had peeked in. The four Grand Duchesses were having music class. The two youngest, Marie and Anastasia, were playing balalaikas. Anastasia was having trouble with hers. The music tutor, Gospodin Trakskity, had shown her where to place her fingers. Suddenly, her music had sounded better. Dimitri had enjoyed it. He came out of the daydream presently. 

Anya, meanwhile, had been in her own daydream. Dimitri now asked her what was wrong. She replied, "I remembered something." A dreamy look came upon her face. "I was playing the balalaika with someone and I missed a few notes. Someone helped me get it right." 

Hmmm, thought Dimitri, That's strange; she seemed to have had a similiar experience with instrument- just like Anastasia had. He said, "Mind if I try?" Anya handed him the guitar-like instrument. He tried to hold it like Anya, but he handled it clumsily. Anya giggled a bit as she showed him how to hold it and how to pluck the strings. 

After a few minutes, they gave up, seeing as Dimitri was a hopeless music pupil. They put the balalaika back in its place, thanked the clerk (who gave them a suspicious look when it turned out they didn't really want to buy the item) and left. They joined Vlad and Pooka at the dock. 

With a half hour left before the boat would leave, Dimitri secretly went and bought Anya a dress. "Blue to match her eyes," he said to himself. The dress looked big, but it was all the store had for the low price. Dimitri shrugged, figuring Anya probly would wear the size that matched her age, 18. Then he joined the others at the dock, the bag neatly hid under his arm. 

A half hour later, the boat left the dock, with Anya, Dimitri, Vlad and Pooka aboard. 

As the boat sailed off, Anya looked toward the West, toward their destination: Paris. 

_(continues as in the movie)_ __

... 

ANASTASiA™ is copyright of 20thC.Fox, etc. ^_^ 

PS. Believe it or not, this is a work of fiction. All the incidents, names, and characters are imaginary.   
Any resemblence to actual persons etc, living or dead, is completely coincidental. ^_~ 

written by Ashley ©98, edited by SimbiAni™ ©2G4 


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